Daily Lumina News 082720

Will it be “community colleges to the rescue” this time?
With millions out of work and millions more uncertain about how the higher-ed or K-12 academic year will play out, one looming question right now is whether these lower-cost, closer-to-home, in-touch-with-employers institutions will see the level of interest and support that they received after the 2008 Great Recession.

It is back to school season for colleges and universities. That usually means all kinds of rituals. But not this year. Fall 2020 will bring the first full college term of the COVID-19 pandemic, and no one knows quite what to expect.

In a new podcast series, professors and students at six colleges share "audio diaries" of college life in this unprecedented time. On this episode, they discuss why the new year is not just about inconveniences of plexiglass barriers in classrooms and masked teaching.

By the time students began arriving on campuses this month, tuition bills and housing contracts were paid. As they moved into dorms, they bought meal plans, books, school supplies, and swag at the campus bookstore.
Some of those plans have now been dashed, as outbreaks of the coronavirus led to the canceling of in-person courses at several institutions. But as students cancel their plans to study on campus, nearly all of the money they spent for tuition will stay with the university.

As the fall term begins, professors describe their experiences in the in-person (and virtual) classroom. Their verdict? Better than feared.
Faculty members say the time they spent preparing to teach in whatever ways they are this fall—be it in person, hybrid, or online—have them feeling more comfortable than they did in the spring's sudden shift to remote learning, which they believe is resulting (so far) in a smoother, better academic experience for their students.